LOS ANGELES KINGS NOTES:
JAN. 28 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning – 7:00 PM ET (4:00 PM PT) // Venue: Amalie Arena // TV: Bally Sports West // Radio: iHeartRadio
- The LA Kings visit the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second, and final, meeting between these two clubs this season (4-2 W on Oct. 25).
- The Kings aim to sweep the season series.
- Tonight’s game marks the fifth stop of a six-game road trip prior to the NHL All-Star Break (5-3 L on Jan. 21 at NSH; 2-1 W on Jan. 22 at CHI; 4-3 OTW on Jan. 24 at PHI; 4-3 W on Jan. 27 at FLA; Jan. 31 at CAR).
WARM-UPS
1) Tonight marks the second game of the Kings’ seventh set of back-to-backs this season. Prior to this weekend, the team is 6-3-3 in back-to-backs (4-2-0 in the first game, 2-1-3 in the second).
2) Quinton Byfield notched his 20th career NHL point with his assist on Kopitar’s first period goal last night vs. the Panthers. Per NHL PR, Byfield (20 years, 161 days) is the second Kings player in the past 10 years to hit such mark at age 20 or younger (Arthur Kaliyev, 20 years and 253 days, March 6, 2021).
3) Mikey Anderson picked up an assist last night for his 12th point of the campaign, establishing a new single season career-high (1-10=11 in 2020-21).
4) Forward Rasmus Kupari skates into Amalie Arena one game shy of 100 in his career. He is set to become the 24th skater from the 2018 NHL Draft class to reach such mark.
5) Only Carolina (6) has more shorthanded goals since Jan. 1, 2023 than the Kings (3).
vs. TAMPA BAY ALL-TIME:
All-Time Record: 14-23-2-5
Home: 6-15-2-0
Away: 8-8-0-5
OT: 2-5 (2 ties)
Shootout: 1-4
2021-22: 0-1-1
2022-23: 1-0-0
FRANCHISE LEADERS vs. TAMPA BAY:
Luc Robitaille – 14 GP, 16 PTS (8-8=16)
Anze Kopitar* – 21 GP, 15 PTS (3-12=15)
Rob Blake – 15 GP, 13 PTS (3-10=13)
Drew Doughty* – 20 GP, 9 PTS (4-5=9)
Wayne Gretzky – 5 GP, 9 PTS (2-7=9)
*-denotes active roster player
LAST MEETING vs. TAMPA BAY: Oct. 25, 2022 – LAK 4 vs. TBL 2
Venue: Crypto.com Arena
LAK Goals: Danault (4), Vilardi (5), Lizotte (1), Kempe (5)
TBL Goals: Hagel (2), Kucherov (1)
Goalies: LAK: Quick (W, 23 saves, 25 shots) TBL: Vasilevskiy (L, 29 saves, 33 shots)
LAK PP: 1-for-4
LAK PK: 4-for-4
THE NEXT THREE:
Tues., Jan. 31 | at Carolina Hurricanes | 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT) | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
Blake Lizotte is riding a three-game point streak (2-1=3) vs. the Hurricanes.
Sat., Feb. 11 | vs. Pittsburgh Penguins | 7:30 p.m. PT | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
The Kings will honor former captain Dustin Brown with the retirement of his No. 23 to the Crypto.com Arena rafters.
Mon., Feb. 13 | vs. Buffalo Sabres | 7:30 p.m. PT | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
The Kings have won six of their last eight meetings against the Sabres at Crypto.com Arena (6-2-0).
INJURY & MGL REPORT
Player, Games Missed, Date(s), Status
F Alex Iafallo, 23 games, Oct. 18 – Dec. 3 (lower-body)
F Brendan Lemieux, 18 games, Nov. 14 – Dec. 20 (lower-body)
F Arthur Kaliyev, 16 games, Dec. 22 – Pres. (lower-body)
F Trevor Moore, 14 games, Dec. 27 – Pres. (upper-body)
F Gabriel Vilardi, 6 games, Nov. 27 (lower-body); Jan. 19 – Pres. (undisclosed)
F Quinton Byfield, 6 games, Oct. 27 – Nov. 5 (illness)
F Carl Grundstrom, 5 games, Jan. 19 – Pres. (lower-body)
F Viktor Arvidsson, 3 games, Oct. 13 (illness); Oct. 25 (illness); Jan. 11 (illness)
D Sean Durzi, 2 games, Nov. 19 – Nov. 22. (lower-body)
D Drew Doughty, 1 game, Dec. 11 (lower-body)
2022-23 Total Regular-Season Man-Games Lost: 94
RECENT TRANSACTIONS (as of 1/27/23)
Jan. 15 – Rasmus Kupari (F) loaned to Ontario (AHL).
Jan. 17 – Rasmus Kupari (F) recalled from Ontario (AHL).
Jan. 19 – Tobias Bjornfot (D), Samuel Fagemo (F) and Alex Turcotte (F) recalled from Ontario (AHL).
Jan. 19 – Carl Grundstrom (F) placed on injured reserve.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:
LAST GAME
Lightning 3 vs. Boston 2
The Tampa Bay Lightning skated to an 11th-straight win on home ice with a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins Thursday night at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts improved to 31-15-1 this season with a home record of 19-4-1…Brandon Hagel opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 10:42 mark of the first period when he took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and roofed a shot over the blocker of Linus Ullmark with Brayden Point picking up the secondary assist…Brad Marchand tied the game for BOS when he scored with 3:02 remaining in the second period…Point put the Lightning up 2-1 after Steven Stamkos won an offensive-zone faceoff to the right of Ullmark before a shot from Kucherov deflected off Point’s skate and into the back of the net…Pavel Zacha responded for BOS and tied the game at two just 1:26 later…With 6:41 remaining in regulation, Point sped into the offensive zone and sent a cross-crease pass for Stamkos, but when the pass missed the mark, Victor Hedman pinched up the boards and hammered home his third goal of the season with a heavy slap shot to put Tampa Bay up 3-2…Andrei Vasilevskiy held down the fort to close out the game, finishing the night with 37 saves on 39 shots against for his 22nd win of the season…Vasilevskiy played his 400th career game in the win.
PP: TBL – 1-3 BOS – 0-2
SOG: TBL – 35 BOS – 39
Attendance: 19,092
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Kings are playing the second of two matchups this season and the only meeting at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts dropped the first meeting of the season 4-2 at Crypto.com Arena Oct. 25…Phillip Danault opened the scoring for LAK 7:20 into the first period…Brandon Hagel tied the game at one when he jumped on his own rebound in front and beat Jonathan Quick with 4:46 remaining in the opening frame…LAK scored back-to-back goals in the second period off the sticks of Gabriel Vilardi and Blake Lizotte to take a 3-1 lead into the final frame…Adrian Kempe made it a 4-1 game when he scored with 5:30 remaining in regulation…Nikita Kucherov scored the final goal of the game with 2:16 remaining to conclude the 4-2 loss for Tampa Bay…The Lightning are 7-2-1 in their last 10 home games vs. LAK and 9-1-0 in the last 10 meetings overall…The Bolts have won six consecutive home games vs. LAK…Tampa Bay has scored three or more goals in five straight home games vs. LAK and nine of the last 10 meetings overall…Steven Stamkos has picked up points in eight of his last nine games vs. LAK (7-9—16)…Stamkos has pointed in four straight home games vs. LAK (2-4—6)…Kucherov is riding a 10-game point streak vs. LAK (8-11—19)…Kucherov has recorded three straight multi-point games vs. LAK (2-4—6)…Brayden Point has picked up points in four of his last six contests vs. LAK (2-4—6)…Andrei Vasilevskiy has won seven of his last eight starts vs. LAK with a .919 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average during that span…The Bolts are 28-12-2 with two ties alltime vs. LAK, including a home record of 13-6-2…Kucherov (9-12—21) and Stamkos (8-13—21) are tied for the Lightning franchise record for career points vs. LAK.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. LAK
T1. Nikita Kucherov – 21 pts. (9-12—21, 14 GP)
T1. Steven Stamkos – 21 pts. (8-13—21, 18 GP)
- Martin St. Louis – 15 pts. (6-9—15, 14 GP)
- Victor Hedman – 13 pts. (6-7—13, 18 GP)
- Tyler Johnson – 10 pts. (4-6—10, 14 GP)
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the third and final game of a three-game homestand tonight before heading into the All-Star break…The Bolts will play just five of their 13 games in January on home ice…The Lightning are 7-4-0 against Pacific Division opponents and 15-6-0 against the Western Conference this season…Tampa Bay is 19-4-1 at home this season…The Lightning have won 11 consecutive games at AMALIE Arena, tied for the longest home winning streak in franchise history…Tampa Bay has scored a power-play goal in five straight home games with nine power-play goals during that span…The Bolts have scored a power-play goal in 18 of 24 home games this season.
INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 91
Current Injuries:
None
TRANSACTIONS
Jan. 15 – Assigned F Rudolfs Balcers to AHL Syracuse for conditioning
Jan. 2 – Signed D Nick Perbix to a two-year contract extension
